Summary
- Toby Haynes' upcoming Star Trek prequel film will explore humanity's early contact with aliens and the formation of the United Federation of Planets.
- Possibly set between 2063 and 2151, the prequel may reveal how Earth became a utopia and depict early tensions between Vulcans and Earthlings.
- While concerns persist about potential changes to Star Trek canon, integrating aspects from First Contact could please long-time fans.
Star Trek's prequel movie can answer 30-year-old questions Star Trek: First Contact left behind. Paramount Pictures is developing an Untitled Star Trek Origin movie directed by Toby Haynes and written by Seth Grahame-Smith. Haynes directed Black Mirror's Star Trek parody, "USS Callister," and his Star Trek prequel film is reportedly set mostly on Earth and focuses on humanity’s early contact with aliens and the formation of the United Federation of Planets. Haynes' Star Trek prequel movie is said to be aimed toward general audiences who don't have expertise about Star Trek's vast canon.
Director Jonathan Frakes' Star Trek: First Contact was released in 1996, and the hit film was essentially Star Trek's origin story. To stop the Borg, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) leads the USS Enterprise-E to the year 2063. As Picard battles the Borg on the Enterprise, it's up to Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and his away team to ensure Dr. Zephram Cochrane's (James Cromwell) first warp flight launches as scheduled. Corchrane's history-making voyage succeeds, resulting in humanity's First Contact with the Vulcans. From that seed sprang Star Trek.
Picard and the Enterprise left some questions behind
A Star Trek prequel movie set mostly on Earth would logically be set during the decades after Star Trek: First Contact's introduction between humans and Vulcans in 2063 and the launch of the NX-01 Enterprise in 2151, as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise.This is fertile ground for a Star Trek story as it's never been revealed what happened that led to the formation of Starfleet. Indeed, during those 90 years, Earth stopped wars, solved hunger, and the climate crisis, and abandoned the pursuit of money in favor of advancing the human race. In short, Earth became a Utopia - but how?
While it's doubtful Toby Haynes' Star Trek Origin movie would go into detail about what happened after Star Trek: First Contact, it could provide updates about how Zephram Cochrane meeting the Vulcans turned Earthlings into a spacefaring people. Easter eggs could reveal what happened to Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard), what became of Cochrane's Phoenix starship, and the prequel could depict the early tumult between the haughty Vulcans and the scrappy people of Earth. There would have to be some space adventure in this Star Trek prequel movie, but Earth did have starships already before the NX-01 Enterprise became Starfleet's first Warp 5-capable vessel.
Star Trek: The Original Series established that Zephram Cochrane left Earth in the early 22nd century, but was kept alive in the Gamma Canaris region of space by an alien called the Companion.
Will Star Trek’s Prequel Movie Ignore Enterprise Canon?
What is this Star Trek origin movie really about?
For longtime Star Trek fans, the biggest concern about Toby Haynes' Untitled Star Trek Origin is that it will ignore or rewrite Star Trek canon. After all, the description from The Hollywood Reporter that the Star Trek "prequel focus[es] on humanity’s early contact with aliens and the formation of the Federation" is already problematic because the United Federation of Planets is founded afterStar Trek: Enterprise ends. It's possible Toby Haynes' Star Trek prequel could create a new history that will supersede known canon without J.J. Abrams' gimmick of creating an alternate timeline in Star Trek (2009) in which to do as he pleases.
It's unclear exactly when Toby Haynes' Star Trek prequel movie is set and what it will actually be about.
Then again, Star Trek (2009) recognized Star Trek: Enterprise's place in canon by name-dropping Admiral Archer. 2016's Star Trek Beyond was even more respectful and integrated aspects of Star Trek: Enterprise's era, including the NX Class USS Franklin starship. With little information to go on, it's unclear exactly when Toby Haynes' Star Trek prequel movie is set and what it will really be about. While there may be changes or revelations that will give Star Trek's origin a new direction or perspective, it may not outright break canon. But weaving in Star Trek: First Contact's history and answering some questions left behind would go a long way toward pleasing Star Trek fans.
